The UK election, made up of 5 major parties, was largely won by the conservative party. With a majority, the leader of the party, Boris Johnson, will remain as PM and will now have the leverage and support to play hardball with the EU as they workout their divorce. Support for Brexit mimic the support for Trump in the US. The coasts and metropolitan areas were outnumbered by the rest of the nation. While places like London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles enjoy a relatively good economy, the other parts of both countries do not.
Using the anger of people in those regions, and shifting it to scapegoats, like immigrants, big government, or globalism, populists like Johnson and Trump have been able to manipulate their voters to their benefit. If there was any hope for UK to remain in the EU, that is now gone.
This makes me wonder how I felt in 2016, when the Brexit referendum was first introduced and voted. It was the summer of 2016 and the referendum won marginally, 51% to 49%. I recall “mocking” the stupidity of the British people. Typical Americanism thinking that “we were better” and could not be bamboozled into such a vote. Of course, I would end up eating my own words in November of that year when Trump was elected. While Trump won by a large electoral college margin, he lost the popular election by 2%.
I am hoping this UK election is a fluke, though I have learned enough to not speak out of term and instead will wish my English brethren the best.
